


Queen's Gambit

by Aelara_Vayne



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arya is Pro-Lannister, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, Magic-Users, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 05:27:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4209663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelara_Vayne/pseuds/Aelara_Vayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "For Love and Legacy".</p><p>Almost sixteen years from the death of Daenerys Targaryen's dragon, the long winter is thawing along with the ambition of all the false Kings and Queens of Westeros. War comes quickly to the warming world and House Lannister is ready.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Queen's Gambit

**Author's Note:**

> Temp Warning: Slow updates as FL&L gets revised.
> 
> Alright so let's detail the changes in style between 'For Love and Legacy' that may make you want to stop here:  
> 1\. This is not purely Het anymore, as it has some (mostly implied) M/M, which should be par for the course for most people in this fandom, but if that bothers you stop at the end of the last story. It was a perfectly good ending that kept within the bounds of what I warned people they were getting into.  
> 2\. Now, incest will feature in a greater measure (and you can probably guess between who pretty quickly), and it's not "pseudo" anymore. So be prepared for that, but it shouldn't send any fans of Jaime running for the hills.  
> 3\. This is much darker than the last story, but should maintain the same style of writing. It's just I don't have a baby Tommen to rely on to lighten the mood anymore.
> 
> Now, if you read everything through the epilogue of the last story, you'll be able to jump in easy. It starts fifteen years later, and adds some new PoVs. But it's still almost entirely Arya and Jaime, despite their missing presence in the first chapter which serves as a prologue.
> 
> Same as before, I'll be adding in songs in the chapter notes.
> 
> Song for this Chapter: Alexithymia by Anberlin

Adrian Lannister wanted nothing to do with the events surrounding the day. They barely concerned him; why would he want to celebrate his great uncle's birthday? And, even worse, there were dozens of girls there looking to make a husband of him. His father had been almost unbearably excited for the chance to try and pawn Adrian off on some girl.

" _Come on, Adrian_ ," his father had needled. " _I thought I didn't want a wife, until I met your mother. Now look: we're happy. Trust me on this._ " Adrian snorted at the memory; his father couldn't see that his desire to avoid a wife was _exactly_ why they managed to find each other and become happy.

Adrian was fifteen and the only things that appealed to him were: fighting, spending time with Tommen and Damian, and annoying his father or grandfather. Women fit perfectly into the last category as long as he ignored their advances, and nowhere else. His brothers were much better sons than he was, and they would be making polite talk with blushing girls all day long, even though Adrian knew they were equally as opposed to the whole affair.

The winter was lifting, and everyone was in excellent spirits. The fifteen year winter, nearing sixteen soon, had been hard on the Seven Kingdoms, but Adrian had never known anything but this. The talk of summer made him both nervous and excited. He had been born and grown up in winter, but summer meant the war would likely resume. Adrian was _very_ excited for that, because he was old enough to fight in it.

His father wouldn't like it, but his mother would almost demand it of him. She was far more stern and a lot like his grandfather, but it was only because she was in charge of ruling the West. And, as everyone was always so quick to remind him, ruling a Kingdom that had been in winter five years longer than they had prepared for was no easy task. It was only her bannermen's unflinching loyalty that kept everyone in line as hunger set in across the West. His mother had seen to it that everyone had enough to eat, even the small folk, but it had cost House Lannister mountains of gold to have it shipped in from across the Narrow Sea, where the Targaryen Queen ruled, in secret.

Adrian was no fool, though he acted like one often, and he knew what it took to rule. Most people assumed him to be 'his father's son', and he was happy to let them keep that assumption. So he japed and grinned through life with a devil may care attitude. But only Tommen and Damian knew his true nature, which better aligned with their mother. He was an ambitious boy, with a taste for bloodshed and power, but he liked to let others underestimate his cunning. Even his father did that, but not even close to Adrian's scale.

Adrian didn't reveal his true feelings and thoughts to anyone but his brothers. He _could_ tell his parents, but he figured out quickly in his youth that they preferred the happy, carefree version of him to what he would be if he was to act on his heart. They liked to think of him as something of a child still, even as grandfather and mother drilled into his head how to lead.

He was meant to have Winterfell one day, and rule as Warden of the North. He didn't want it. It was a place he had never seen, in a Kingdom he didn't particularly like, and the South suited him fine. The Rock was going to be Tommen's, he knew and had no issue with, but Adrian wanted to stay with his brothers. They were his closest companions, as Lannisters often trusted no one but each other.

Tommen shied away from him sometimes lately though, and it drove Adrian to anger to know why. His brother had recently been very sensitive to the words 'bastard' and 'incest', especially when they concerned their cousin, half brother to Adrian and full sibling by blood to Tommen, Joffrey. Myrcella was dead by some plot down in Dorne, and Joffrey was as much a monster now as he ever had been.

He was Maegor the Cruel and the Mad King all wrapped up into one, and most blamed it on his incestuous birth. Their father even sometimes failed to deny it. But what most forgot, was that Tommen was their mother's son by love, not blood, and as much born of incest as Joffrey. There was _nothing_ wrong his with brother. But now Tommen seemed weary of his siblings, and Adrian could only suspect that it was because his recent identity crisis.

His brother was eighteen now, and as handsome as their father. They looked more akin to brothers than father and son, due to his father's seemingly ageless face. Before Adrian was born, his mother had accidentally managed to make his father as young as she was, and, by extension, froze their aging to an almost standstill. His mother looked every inch a young woman of twenty and his father was the same. They aged, but it was apparently _very_ slowly and no one quite knew if that meant their lifespans were going to be longer than an average man or woman's either.

It made things increasingly awkward as people called Tommen and Adrian 'Jaime' often, and the reverse was true when people were looking for them. Damian was lucky as he looked nothing like anyone else at the Rock, except partially their mother, and Adrian thought that made his twin delightfully unique.

He had slipped out of the feast and was walking along the walls of the castle aimlessly. His lion, Lann, for the founder of their House, and his wolf, Daeron, named for the Young Dragon who conquered Dorne, were following him slowly. The snow melted under his feet as he heated himself to keep warm. His magic was strong, stronger than both his brothers, so it came naturally to him. His mother said that he had been performing magic since he was in the womb.

Tommen had magic too, but it was an extension of their mother's and not his own, so he controlled it clumsily, but he was happy to have what he did. Damian had as much as Adrian, but tended not to use it, as his twin was a much more quiet soul. His twin liked many of the same things that Adrian did, fighting and riding and knighthood, but he liked them in silence. Damian didn't talk often unless spoken to, which was far from Adrian's nature of 'never shutting up' as their father put it.

"Adrian," his older brother's voice called from behind him as he sprinted along the wall to catch up. He was red at the cheeks and breathless when he got there, and Adrian had to smile at how adorable it made him look. Tommen was sweet at his heart, unlike Adrian who's heart beat in a dark shade of grey most of the time. For as equally as they resembled their father, Tommen had gotten the better half of him. Adrian often felt like he had gotten the half that his father had thrown away after meeting their mother; the half that spawned a monster like Joffrey and took his horrible sister to bed.

"Why are you out here? You could slip and fall to your death," Tommen said in a slightly annoyed voice. "Mother and father are looking for you in the great hall. They've got--."

"A hundred different fucking girls for me to pick from, I know," he drawled though his snide tone wasn't meant for his brother. "I think I'll take my chances with the walls. Our late uncle, Brandon, seemed to survive alright." He turned away and added, "Until the Greyjoy burned him alive."

"Don't talk like that," Tommen sighed though it was clear he knew it was no use. Adrian was a difficult person to deal with on the best days, and he knew it. It wasn't his intention to drive his brothers away, but sometimes the darker parts of him slipped out. His brother stood up straight and tried to force a smile while he said, "The girls are lovely. There _has_ to be one that you'll like."

"I'm fairly sure I prefer the company of men," Adrian said simply as he leaned against the frozen wall. "And you know that."

"You can't mean it," his brother hissed. "That's a hard life, Adrian. No one accepts it anywhere outside of Dorne and it won't further our family line. Besides, we don't need any more scandal about Lannister bedmates. So, _please_ , come see the girls? Just talk to them and maybe you'll find one you like."

"If that worked, sweet brother," Adrian muttered even as he moved towards the great hall in silent acceptance. "You would have married years ago."


End file.
